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British authorities say they have confirmed two more bird flu cases on farms in northern and eastern England, meaning there are now four areas where restrictions are in place across the country to reduce the spread of the disease, reports Reuters.

The Department for Environment, Food & Rural Affairs (Defra) said it had confirmed a case of H5N8 avian flu in a flock of about 1,000 pheasants at a farm in Wyre, Lancashire, in northern England on Friday.

A number of birds had died and the rest were being culled. It was the second outbreak reported at a farm in Wyre this week.

Another H5N8 case had been identified on Thursday at a turkey rearing farm which had about 19,500 birds near Boston in Lincolnshire, Defra said.

A 3-km (1.9-mile) protection zone and a 10-km surveillance zone have been put in place around both farms, with authorities saying the virus posed a very low risk to humans and no food safety risk.

Different strains of bird flu have been spreading across Europe and Asia since late last year, leading to the large-scale slaughter of poultry in certain countries and some human deaths in China.

Disease experts say the global spread of bird flu and the number of viral strains circulating and causing infections have reached unprecedented levels, raising the risk of a potential human outbreak.

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